Introduction~

So, yes, I am using even though I swore never to. It just wasn't working out, trying to put the fic on dA, so here I am, here. I am feeling edgey about being on this website but I'm going to save the document after every little change I make just to be on the safe side. If I do that, nothing can go wrong. I will not be doing any editing to it here on this website though so if you notice any little mistakes, feel free to let me know and I'll change them. The spell check I use at home is different from this one, so. 'Kay now, proper intro...

Hey, there, everyone, I am back. And I'm really excited, because this is going to be a long story, unlike my first one, in which I was mostly just trying to keep things simple and light like the show. Well, not this time around, and it's getting me really pumped up. I have the lowest of expectations, but if people like this, I can easily say that it would be one of the best feelings in my entire life, because I put my entire heart and soul into this. So please tell me if you like it, and if you don't, then I suppose I can only say, I'm open to criticism. I don't like it, but if I ever wanna be famous someday, I guess I'd better know exactly what I need to work on, and I know I'm not close to perfect, so, yeah, I need reviews. Need. Serious. Will die without them. Do you want me to die?

Anyway, I have no idea if this story is brilliant or just crap. I tried to put in exciting and funny parts. Sometimes it gets really kind of serious. No way could I put anyone together without angst and tears and whatnot, I just like (fictional) drama, so sue me. But don't worry if things seem bleak, there's a happy, fluffy ending, and I'm crossing my fingers, hoping my readers will finish it and be like, "Awwww, this is THE cutest!"

This story is dedicated to anyone who has ever filled me up with inspiration. I can't possibly name all of you, and some of you I don't even know in real life. *Online pals, high five!* But you make me wanna write, and that's the best thing anyone can do for me.

All glory and praise goes to God.(:

And if this story is way too serious, please let me know. I tend to carry on sometimes with the seriousness.

~O~O~O~

PROLOGUE~

Sunny, summer afternoon with a clear blue sky and a cool breeze. It was the perfect day to be fighting crime, fourteen-year-old WordGirl thought. Not too hot out, which was nice, considering how sweltering the week had been so far. And best of all, nothing she had to worry about getting back to as soon as she finished obliterating these robots. It was nice to not have the pressure to hurry back home so no one would get suspicious of her for once.

Nothing was bothering her today, not even all of the big words Tobey was using from where he stood atop an abandoned building, trying to impress her as she grabbed one of his robots by the antenna and swung it around, knocking two others off their feet. And she and Captain Huggy Face were working perfectly in sync. Her sidekick leapt from her shoulders to pounce on the robots she'd just sent flailing to the ground and ensure that they wouldn't get up again.

"Well, Tobey, looks like I'm about to win again," she said, tossing her head with a little smile. Even when she was looking at him, she could throw a punch to her right and put a good dent in the head of a robot that had approached her.

"Oh, we'll see about that," he said, trying to sound confident even though her success at defeating him so soon was disappointing. He'd brought out twenty robots, hoping they'd keep her busy for at least fifteen minutes or so, also hoping maybe as she fought they'd talk and she'd come a little closer to openly liking him. For all of the trouble he got into for these little trips to the city, it certainly wouldn't be worth it if he didn't get to have at least one nice little moment with WordGirl.

"Whatever you want to say," she said, turning away and grabbing another robot by the arm before it could step on a u-haul. Then she snapped off the arm and used it to smash the robot to the ground.

Tobey tapped one of the buttons on his remote thoughtfully, wishing he could call more robots out from his home. At the moment they were a little low on supply as school had only been out for the summer two days and he hadn't had much time to build. The only other ones he had at home weren't finished yet. He didn't want this trip to have been for nothing, but what could he do? At the moment, he and WordGirl hadn't exchanged any words that he would lay awake smiling about as he played them over in his mind that night, but he couldn't think up any way to keep her around longer.

At last she had destroyed all of the robots. She slapped the invisible dust off of her hands, looking around with satisfaction at seeing that nothing had been destroyed in the process of the battle. There were a few cracks in the pavement, but those could be repaired easily enough.

Then she turned to Tobey, who looked up to meet her stare with wide eyes, as if he was trying to appear innocent.

She was about to say something clever to him now that she had won again, when Huggy leapt up from the rickety fire escape he'd been perched on and flung himself at Tobey. WordGirl said, "Okay then,"

"Get off, you filthy chimp..." Tobey sputtered, trying to pry Huggy's feet away from himself and keep a hold on the remote, but Huggy clung to Tobey's head and grabbed the remote from him, then just as quickly jumped away.

"Menacing creature," Tobey muttered, brushing at his clothes and straightening his glasses as he ran after Huggy. WordGirl just watched, amused and smiling a little. She wasn't in any hurry to end this. Huggy would hold the remote tauntingly out to Tobey, and then Tobey would reach out to snatch it away, and Huggy would run circles around him.

Finally Tobey gave up and stood there with his arms crossed as Huggy continued to bounce and flip around and he asked WordGirl begrudgingly, "Can you make him give me my remote?"

"Um, can you say the magic word?" she responded.

He rolled his eyes with an immensely aggravated sigh. "Please?"

"Well, okay," WordGirl said. "If you take your robots home."

"I don't see how that's possible, since they're laying in mangled piles of scrap metal all over the street." Tobey said.

"Oh, yeah, right, I forgot I completely obliterated them," WordGirl said. "Want me to dump 'em in your backyard?"

Tobey shrugged, defeated. "Just don't throw them on my mother's flowerbeds or she'll get mad at me." he said.

"Okay," she said, zipping downward to grab all of the demolished robots and robot parts and crush them into a compacted hunk, then fly to Tobey's house to toss them into the backyard, all within a few moments. She remembered to be careful of the flower beds.

She paused for just a moment here, because she could see her house from where she was. As her alter ego, Becky Botsford, she and Tobey lived in the same neighborhood. She spotted her little brother TJ on the lawn waving franticly and yelling, "It's WordGirl!"

She waved back once with a smile, then flew back to where Tobey was still on the building, glaring at her sidekick, who still had possession of the remote. Huggy was sitting a few feet away from Tobey, examining the remote with interest.

"All taken care of," WordGirl said, her hands on her hips. "And you're welcome,"

Tobey sighed. "Thank you," he said, rolling his eyes a little that she'd just assumed he wasn't polite enough to thank her himself. Then he said, "Now, really, I need that remote back. I have to summon one of my robots from home to get me down off this building." He figured even if the robots weren't finished enough for battles, one could at least do the simple task of walking out into the city to fetch him.

"Oh, no you don't," WordGirl said. "If I have anything to say about this, it's that you won't be getting to bring out any robots for a long time. If your mom doesn't already know about it, I'll tell her myself."

"But why?" Tobey whined, throwing his hands up.

"Um, because I'm a superhero and that's my job? Also because I have another life to live as well and your antics usually interfere with it,"

"Well, yeah," Tobey said a little sheepishly, already abandoning the whininess. "But, you must enjoy it just a little bit, right?" He looked a little hopeful.

"I guess it's kind of fun to beat up your robots," WordGirl said thoughtfully with a shrug. Huggy disapproved of her answer a little.

"And?" Tobey prodded.

"And what?" she said.

He looked down. "Well, I..."

"Hey, listen," she said, feeling a little bad about cutting him off, but she did want to get home now and didn't have time to get engaged in any conversations with him. Mainly because it would probably turn into and argument anyway, which she wanted to be a part of even less. "I actually should get home now," she said.

"Alright, fine," Tobey said, disgusted at how little friendly interactions were going on at the moment. "But how am I supposed to get down?"

WordGirl sighed with exasperation. She certainly didn't want to have to get him down herself. "Fine, summon one of your robots already." she said. Then her voice took on a warning note. "But if you cause any trouble, you're gonna be in trouble...even more than you already are."

"Fine." Tobey turned to Huggy to ask for the remote, but when he opened his mouth to speak, he just let out a shocked cry. "What are you doing?"

Huggy shrugged, the wires from the inside of the remote all yanked out and in tangled little bits at his feet. He chattered an answer, but Tobey just grew more hysterical. He didn't understand a word the monkey had said, anyway

"You've practically ruined my remote!" he cried. "I'm going to have to make a completely new one and then program all of my robots to respond to it and -"

"You mean what's left of your robots?" WordGirl interrupted with a grin at Huggy, who returned it.

Tobey turned back to her with her hands out. "Alright then!" he said bitterly. "If you're so smart, get me down yourself!"

Getting him down herself wasn't a matter of how smart she was, but she decided not to point this out to him.

"Oh, come on, Tobey, can't you climb down the fire escape or something?" she said instead with crossed arms, but observing the frail metal frame, she wouldn't have climbed down it herself, if she were simply a normal person without flying powers like he was.

She didn't like this very much. She looked back up at Tobey, who had one eyebrow raised at her.

"You did this on purpose!" she burst out. "So I'd have to carry you down!"

He grinned. "No, I didn't, it's just fate,"

"Fate?" she repeated with annoyance.

"You don't know what it means?" he asked. "Because I do!" He even raised his arm in the air like a schoolboy waiting to be called on.

She didn't even answer, just rolled her eyes, and that was enough of an answer for him to know to just shut his mouth.

There wasn't any other ways that came to mind. With a groan, she flew over and grabbed him by the back of his shirt, and took Huggy up in her arms, then descended.

"Can you at least bring me to my house?" Tobey said. He wished she would hold him in any other way than by the back of his vest. Even if she held him upside-down by the ankle, that would be slightly nicer than this.

"Sure," she said, changing directions.

As they went along through the sky in the open wind, Tobey looked down at the city below him and all of the cars on the streets and thought it would certainly be scary to fall, even though he knew WordGirl would never drop him; she could catch meteorites, she could certainly keep a safe hold on him all the way home.

His neighborhood was now in sight. He asked, "Why does the monkey get to be in your arms while you hold me by the back of my shirt?"

He didn't get an answer right away. Then he heard her say from above, "That's just the way it is."

"Oh." he said. "Is it that way because you don't want anyone to see me in your arms and think you like me?"

"No!" she snapped, giving him a response right away that time. "I mean, come on. Do you think thoughts like that when I hold other people by the backs of their shirts? Do you think I like Mr. Big and Chuck and Seymour Smooth, too?" She was glad she'd thought that one up, it was a good thing to say to him, and it was certainly better than having a stupid answer that wasn't really a good answer at all or was full of "um's" and "uh's".

"I never said I thought you liked me," he said. "I just said you didn't want people to think you like me. But they probably both mean the same thing to you, right?"

"Could you cut it out?" she asked, irritated. "This is a dumb conversation."

"You're just trying to change the subject," he informed her.

She tried to come up with something clever to say, but nothing came to mind, so he took this little second of silence to say, "Speechless at how well I understand you, WordGirl?"

She groaned. "If I object, you won't believe me, so I'm not even bothering to answer."

"Is it because you can't say no, but you won't say yes?"

"Ugh, am I ever glad we're at your house now!" she said, quickening her speed and flying down to his yard then. He never knew when enough was enough, she thought.

The velocity of the last bit of their flight made him feel a little dizzy, but soon enough he had the earth under him.

"Well, thank you for the lift," he said to WordGirl good-naturedly, hoping they could part on a slightly lighter note.

"You're welcome." she said, hovering in the air with Captain Huggy Face on her shoulders now. "And if you'll excuse me, I need to go inside and see your mommy for a moment."

"Hey!" he blurted out. "You don't need to call her my mommy as if I'm some sort of baby! And you don't need to be a tattletale either!"

"Yeah I do," she said.

His hands were fists. "You think because you have superpowers and you're smart and beautiful you can go around and do whatever you want!" he burst out.

She smiled. "Well, thank you for calling me smart and beautiful, Tobey, that was kind of sweet," she said.

"Really?" he said. "I mean, you're welcome. But, um..." He had to say something. Say anything, to catch her attention and make her linger just a little longer. "Um..." he thought quickly, then blurted out, "You wouldn't happen to want to go out for ice cream, would you?"

She hesitated, and then caught herself. "I have places to be," she said.

He sighed a little. Of course she would come up with an excuse. "Right," he said, squirming a little. "Uh, forget I asked...um..."

Huggy chattered with impatience, ready to leave now. He certainly wasn't impressed with Tobey's stuttering, or with WordGirl's hesitant answers, either.

"Right, Huggy," she said, regaining her determined superhero attitude, as if she had completely forgotten that Tobey asked her to go out for ice cream and that she hadn't even been able to come up with an excuse not to right away. "We've got to be going."

She turned to Tobey one last time. "Please don't be causing trouble anytime soon, okay?"

Her tone wasn't bossy or controlling, and hearing her tell him that didn't make him annoyed with her at all, oddly. "Sure, fine," he found himself saying. Then he made a face at himself, because he didn't usually promise her he'd be good. He didn't ever, actually. She never asked him to, either, though.

"Great," she said. "Um, see you," She turned to fly off when suddenly they all stopped and turned, because someone was running down the sidewalk at them, yelling.

"Hey, wait!" It was Todd Scoops Ming, the reporter, holding his reporter's hat on his head as he jogged over.

Huggy sighed.

WordGirl could feel little sparks igniting inside. She didn't know why, Scoops never ever said the words she wanted to hear him say. But she couldn't help it if her heart jolted at the mere sight of him.

Tobey was just thinking, of course he would show up . . .

"Hi," WordGirl said apprehensively once Scoops reached the yard. She didn't want to get too excited. She was starting to figure him out, and she knew to be careful and not let herself get too caught up, because one minute he would have her trying to keep from blushing, and the next faking smiles with a sinking heart.

"Hello, WordGirl," Scoops said, pulling out his little notebook. "Thanks for not leaving; I had to run really fast to make it here," he panted.

Tobey just stayed off to the side, hands in his pockets and quiet.

"No problem," WordGirl said, thinking it was kind of nice to hear that he'd ran after her, even if not for the reasons she would have preferred he chase after her for. But she pushed the thought away.

"So," said Scoops, pulling out his pencil with a flourish. "Tell me, how was it defeating twenty robots today?"

"Easy," WordGirl said.

"Was it, really?" Scoops said thoughtfully. "Because I've been trying to come up with all sorts of theories, and one of them requires me to suspect maybe things aren't really as easy as you pretend they are. Tell me, are you exhausted right now?"

She made a face. "What?"

"Are you exhausted right now?" he repeated.

She couldn't help it, briefly she turned around and gave Tobey a confused look, and he immediately shook his head with shrugged shoulders as if the reporter stupid beyond the point of hope. "Um, no," WordGirl said, turning back to Scoops and rolling her eyes slightly at Tobey's look. "I mean, maybe just a little winded, if anything, but definitely not -"

"Are you sure?" Scoops asked. "And now be honest with yourself," He winked.

She was starting to feel defensive. "I am being honest." she said.

"Hm, drat, that completely blows my theory," Scoops groaned.

"What was your theory?" WordGirl asked with crossed arms.

"Oh, never mind, it's worthless now," Scoops said.

"Well, I guess," WordGirl said. "I would never pretend things are easier and I can't see why you think I would." She was annoyed because she'd had a feeling the conversation would turn into something like this as it always did. It was funny how she had memorized him when they were younger so she knew every detail of him by heart, and then sometimes she felt like he didn't even know her at all, or that maybe she didn't know him that well, either.

"Gotta follow reporter's instincts, it might lead me to a great story," he said, as if that explained every unanswered question in the world. Then he said, "So, this is another battle with arch-enemy Tobey McCallister. How does it feel?"

"Um, fine," she said.

"Was it an exciting battle?" he asked.

"Sure," she answered, a little more brightly than she'd been answering his other questions. "It was a pretty quick one, but even if it hadn't been, I would have been okay. It's a nice day to be fighting crime

and -"

"Mm, I think that's all I care to ask right now," Scoops said abruptly, shutting his notebook and tucking it into his pocket.

She blinked. "But don't you need to know more if you're going to put this story in the paper?"

"Nah, I've covered enough robot battles in the Daily Rag." he said. "This would probably bore my readers a little. I need something new and exciting. Robot battles are old news."

"Oh." she said. Behind her Tobey rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. Mainly I just came over to test my theory." Scoops said, pointing his thumb at himself with a self-important smile.

"I see." Her voice was soft. But she didn't see at all. The theory was just a nonsensical idea, and he obviously didn't think it was anything neat or exciting that she'd just taken down twenty robots in ten minutes. She felt he ought to have at least congratulated her on her win and complimented her or something.

"Right!" he said. "So I'll see you around, WordGirl." He turned around and ran off before she could say goodbye back to him.

She let out her breath with frustration.

She couldn't help it, she was disappointed. It wasn't the first time she had been by him, but this boy could just run around and do or say whatever he wanted so carelessly and not even know that all she wanted was just a little attention and that every time he made her feel this way it broke down on her spirits just a little more. He couldn't see anything and she couldn't tell him anything. This time it weighed in her heart more than usual, because by now she felt a tiny prick of hopelessness.

She had made up her mind that she wouldn't care anymore, but every time she got these little hints that he didn't care himself, it just hurt her somehow, no matter what she wished for. And for the first time she felt as though she wouldn't be able to put up with it much longer and she could feel the burning in her eyes. Being a teenager could really suck sometimes.

None of this had bothered her when she was younger, at least not this much. It was so unfair, how you had to grow up and then everything had to be more complicated. She felt like it was wrong to let herself feel this way just because of a boy; she had always been fairly certain that she would never be that type of girl. But she was standing there and she couldn't recall ever feeling so low over him before.

Tobey was still standing there, since he hadn't exactly felt like he should just leave though he hadn't quite wanted to stay through the interview either. He knew WordGirl had a thing for that reporter, which bothered him. But he could also see that the reporter could probably tell, and was choosing to pretend he couldn't, obviously uninterested in her; so that gave Tobey a little glimmer of hope. No way could she get together with him if he didn't even care about her.

But he saw, as she still stood there and watched her friend walk away, the look on her face, and it wasn't hard to tell she was dispirited. She was mostly turned away from him, but he could see her blink fast for a moment, and he almost couldn't believe it. Strong, amazing, powerful WordGirl was maybe near tears because of some boy who didn't notice her the way she wanted him to, when if she wanted, she could easily have someone else in a heartbeat. It somewhat awed him and made his heart go out to her at the same time.

Tobey thought to himself that if she ever loved him, he would never make her want to cry. It wasn't fair, that she could only see someone who saw right through her, and she herself couldn't see how much somebody else might care about her a lot more than she thought he did.

He opened his mouth to say something; what, he did not know. But before he could, she turned to him, the sadness gone from her face and replaced with a look of wearisomeness. She held her monkey tightly in her arms and said, "Please stay out of trouble?" As if to remind him that a moment ago he had said sure, he would.

He just nodded, and in a flash she was gone, leaving a sparkling trail in the air behind her, like shining glitter, but it faded to nothing and then she was out of sight.

He stood in his lawn thoughtfully, wondering if he really would stay out of trouble for her. He'd done it before, but it hadn't quite turned out like he'd hoped, and everything had gone back to the way it had been before. Of course, there was nothing wrong with trying again, though. And if she was happy with him, maybe he wouldn't even need to try and get her attention in such reckless ways.

Maybe he could try it, for a little while. He could still build robots, he thought, just not bring them out to play hopscotch or anything. Only if he seriously felt he needed to.

It was almost a nice idea, he thought. He'd go for it. See what happened.

~O~O~O~

So, there's my introduction to the story. I have no clue how it will be recieved. But the next chapter takes place a little more into the futre.

Anyway, I really don't have any expectations for this story. I've been working on it so long I can't even tell if I think it's good or realistic or bad or really interesting or stupid or anything. But please review it, and if I come here to check up and have absolutely no reviews from anybody, I'll be plunged into doom and never write again. (And don't forget what I said earlier, I'll die without reviews. Keep that in mind.) Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this. See ya and God bless. ~ superstarwordgirl.